The Government has allocated funding of €3.5 million to three Irish marine energy firms for the development and testing of new ocean energy technologies.

The announcement, which was made at a European conference on ocean energy in Dublin on Tuesday, outlined how three companies will receive the funding from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

Ocean Energy has been awarded €2.3 million to design and build a full-scale version of their Ocean Energy Buoy wave energy converter which will be deployed and tested at the US Navy Wave Energy Test Site in Hawaii.

That funding is being matched by €4.5 million from the US Department of Energy.

SeaPower will receive over €1 million to test their wave energy converter at quarter scale in Galway Bay, while GKinetic Energy will receive €200,000 to conduct towing tests of their tidal turbine system in Limerick Docks.

SEAI chief executive Brian Motherway said it the market could be worth a potential €15bn to Ireland’s economy by 2050.

“This is an exciting time for ocean energy in Ireland,” he said. “With a sea area ten times our land mass, this market has the potential to be worth €15bn to Ireland’s economy by 2050.”

Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Alex White said the State was putting in place “the right building blocks to unlock the enormous potential around us”.

“I am committed to seeing the ocean energy sector deliver on its potential,” he added.